Before Avalon: Audrey's Tale
by Ashen Field
Summary: This is part of the three story book im writing. The two other parts are; Before Avalon; The legend of Vala, and Before Avalon; The Sister's Story. I may or may not add more stories. Enjoy!
1. Prolouge

"Audrey!" her voice flowed across the battlefield, it carried anguish and fear with it. "Mother!" Audrey searched frantically to find her. All she saw was red for a moment, until a tall boy with cold blue eyes grabbed her shoulder and dragged her away from the battlefield. No one knew how this skirmish started, but it was big, and bloody. It lasted two hours, but it felt like an infinity to Audrey. When it was finally over there where only a few survivors. She looked for her mother. All around her where piles of bodies. After looking for a while, the boy came up to her again and looked at her with sad. Audrey's eyes widened as he pointed to a pile of people, with her mother on the top. She ran over to her, she was alive, barely. "Audrey..." she managed to groan. "Mother!" Audrey could barely fight back tears. Her mother put her hand to Audrey's cheek. "Go now," her mother sounding even more weaker with every second, her life was escaping her, "They will come back soon, get the horse and the wooden chest under my bed," she coughed up some blood. "Mother!" Audrey was weeping, "Mother..." She was gone. The boy walked over to her. "We have to go, get your things they will be back soon." his words where freezing, but somehow they comforted Audrey. Before she went to get her things she took the necklace that her mother constantly wore. Her father had given it to her when they had first met, it was shaped like two hearts, bonded together by something. After getting packed, she and the boy set off. Audrey's family owned three horses, Willow, Oak, and Piney, which somehow knew they needed to leave, fast. The boy had few items, but he had a large black-and-white dog. "Um..." Audrey started, still shaken. "Yeah?" the boy didn't seem fazed by anything that just happened. "I never got your name." The boy paused when he heard her ask this he paused, "Gawain" he grunted. 


	2. Lost and Found

It had been 10 years since that happened, she was 5 years old when she lost her mother. It still haunted her. Gawain who had saved her, introduced her to his little brother, Gareth, later after they escaped, and they treated her like a little sister. They were inseparable, until that one day. They had been living in an abandoned house near a small village. The villagers often checked on them and gave them food, which they didn't need because Gawain took Audrey and Gareth hunting frequently, and they usually got at least two deer every time they did. One day after a very bountiful hunt, some men came to the village. Gawain was 14 and she and Gareth were 12. The men were wearing steel armor, and recruiting new soldiers. The trio was selling some of their meat when the men came up to them. "You there!" there commander called to Gawain, "Can you fight?" Gawain nodded. The commander asked Gareth the question too and he nodded too. "I can fight also!" Audrey said, not wanting to be left out. The soldiers just laughed. Seeing Audrey's confused look the commander told her a woman couldn't fight and grabbed her adopted brothers, and took them away. A boy in the same armor the soldiers were wearing came up to her, he was no older than Gawain, "I'm so sorry..." "Arthur!" one of the soldiers called to him. "Let me come, please!" she pleaded. "I wish I could let you." he replied with sorry eyes. "Take me as your prisoner then!" by this time a couple of soldiers had come over and were laughing hard. Audrey didn't understand. "Go home to your mommy little girl!" a taller soldier bellowed, "You couldn't survive one hour out there! This is man's work." Audrey still didn't understand but said, "I have no mother." some of the soldiers looked sympathetically at her. "Father?" he asked, she shook her head. "Any relative at all?" a soldier to the left of the commander asked, "You took them away..." she fought back tears, she had always been told by Gawain that tears were a sign of weakness, and to avoid them like they were the plague. "Whatever let's go men!" the commander yelled to the other soldiers. Arthur stopped and whispered to her. "We're going to Camelot, its north of here." "Arthur hurry up!" a soldier yelled to him. Audrey understood what he meant them got all of her and her adopted brothers stuff, all three horses, and Gawain's dog, Skylark, and followed them. "Brother's" she said to herself, "I'm coming for you!" 


	3. Belle

Audrey was able to track them to their camp, when she was about ready to look for Gareth and Gawain, Pine and Oak walked over to a man who was feeding some horses. He noticed that they weren't any of their horses, and they had saddles on, so they weren't wild. "Who's there?" he bellowed, "Show yourself!" Skylark started to bark at a tent. Gawain emerged from the tent, when he saw his dog his eyes instantly lit up, and when he saw Pine and Oak, his whole face lit up. "What are you doing here?" he asked Skylark the he whispered, "Oh! Is Audrey here?" Recognizing the name Skylark ran over to Audrey, who was hiding behind a large rock with Willow. When he went to walk over there the soldier who was feeding the horses came up to him, "Is someone over there?" he barked at him. Gawain thought for a moment, "No... even if there was they'd probably have escaped by now..." Audrey knew he was telling her, indirectly, to run away. She was glad she put all of her stuff on Willow, and Oak and Pine were carrying Gawain and Gareth's stuff. Skylark stayed with Gawain, so did Oak and Pine. She was able to get away unnoticed but now she had no home, no family, and no protection. She thought about just dropping down and letting the soldiers capture her, but Gawain always told her surrender was a sign of weakness. He taught her a lot of things. Just thinking about this made her want to cry. But she rode on. It was 3 years since she saw them, she lived in the forest near her old village, where her mother died, the only other living beings she saw were plants and animals. During this time she sharpened her fighting and hunting skills, and somehow developed a vine-like marking going up her arm, from her palm to her shoulder. She didn't know what it was or how it got there, and she didn't care. She was also able to pry open the chest she got on... that day. It had an obsidian dagger, and a sword which had pearls and various gems decorating the butt. She wasn't extremely impressed with the sword, but she was purely amazed with the dagger, she didn't know why, but she just was. She lived in solitude so long she forgot manners, courtesy, and she still couldn't understand why she was so mistreated by those soldiers. Audrey developed an extreme fear of loss, so she swore to never get attached to anything, or anyone ever again. She felt she was an anomaly, it seemed that everything she loved, died or was taken away from her. One day after she practiced with her dagger she heard a small voice. "Wow!" the voice carried amazement, and innocence, with it. "Who's there?" Audrey demanded. "Just me!" the voice's owner came out of a bush. It was a small girl, younger than Audrey, she had big blue eyes which where like deep pools that you could drown in. Audrey had not seen a smiling face in so long, but even though it tried to embrace her with its warm arms, she denied its access. "Who are you?" she barked at her. Audrey's voice didn't faze the small girl. "Oh, I'm Belle!" the girl chirped, "What's your name?" Audrey couldn't stand her eyes. They dug through her soul searching her. "Audrey..." she answered. "That's a pretty name!" her voice rang through the forest. "Hey kid how old are you?" Audrey asked her, "And why are you out here?" "Oh me? I'm 12! And I have no idea why I'm out here. Last thing I remember is some men coming into my village and then my mom told me to run, so I did, and here I am!" Audrey was stunned. This girl's family was probably dead, and she didn't care. Or did she just not know? "Where is your mom?" Audrey asked her. "She went with my dad and big sister and brothers." Belle's voice wasn't the happy chirp it was before, this time it was distant and longing. Audrey knew what she meant. "My mother's probably with them too." Audrey told her. "Really? Up there?" Belle pointed to the sky. "Yup..." Audrey said. After an awkward moment of silence Belle started swamping Audrey with questions. Her last question was "Can I stay with you, Audrey?" Audrey thought for a moment. "Sure..." Audrey said annoyed. "So what do you do out here for fun?" Belle asked after taking a seat on a nearby rock. "Well I train, track, hunt..." Audrey was cut off. "No silly," Belle said in a goofy tone, "Fun!" Audrey looked at her oddly. "You don't know what fun is?" Belle was amused now. "I know what it is," Audrey said solemnly, "My brother always taught me that there was no time for fun." "But you live alone out here," Belle said, confused at Audrey, "You can do whatever you want! Wait! You had a brother?" "Two actually." Audrey said "Gawain and Gareth." Suddenly Belle's eyes lit up. "I know them!" Belle stood up, "They live just over that mountain with the king!" "Are you sure?" Audrey couldn't believe her. Belle opened her bag and pulled out a poster. It listed several men. Lancelot, Gareth, Galahad, Gawain, etc. Audrey's eyes where gleaming with excitement. "Can you take me there?" She asked Belle. "Is your horse brown?" They exchanged grins, packed up and set off.


	4. Journey Over the Mountain

Audrey and Belle stuck out in every town they passed through. People looked at Audrey as if she were going to eat them. Audrey didn't understand this. Neither did Belle. Audrey tripped over something and brought down a merchant. When Audrey didn't say sorry, it really messed up Belle. "Why didn't you tell that man sorry?" she asked her when they got into the forest. "My brother told me that apologies are a sign of weakness." Belle made a face, "Your brother says a whole lot of weird stuff!" Audrey was slightly offended at this remark. Suddenly Willow's ears pricked up and a deer ran in front of them. Audrey instinctively chased it and shot it with her bow. She returned hauling the deer, and found a shocked and horrified Belle. "What's the matter?" Audrey had no idea why she was so upset. "You killed her!" Belle was starting to cry, "You killed her!" "But we need something to eat." Audrey tried to explain. "But you killed her!" Belle would not let this go and demanded Audrey bury the deer and they have a funeral. Audrey had never seen anyone react this way over a deer. "Well what do you suppose we eat?" Audrey asked her. "These!" Belle held out a sack of apples. Upon seeing these apples Willow stood up straighter and nudged Belle, who gave her one. All throughout their journey over the mountain, Audrey noticed Belle seemed to be extremely in touch with nature. It looked like she could understand the animals. One night while they where camping Belle noticed Audrey's arm. "What are those vine things on your arm?" she asked. "I don't know they just popped up sometime. I noticed them at first when I was training." Belle yawned, "I wonder what they are..." Belle started to drift into sleep. Audrey hadn't thought about these markings but now that Belle brought it up she started to want to know what they were too. That night she had a dream. _Audrey was standing on a misty lake, Gawain and Gareth were standing on the shore laughing. They walked away. Audrey tried to follow them but vines grabbed her arm and kept her from moving. She looked up at the moon and a dragon came at her. The dragon flew into her chest and the vines merged with her skin. She ran trying to catch her brothers. She saw two paths. She saw her brothers walking down one path and the other path revealed Belle being beaten by some men._ She woke up before she could choose a path. Willow was looking into the woods, ear pricked up. Audrey grabbed her dagger and held it in front of her. Belle woke up and her face lit up. "Brandon?" she called out, "Is that you?" A large blue dragon emerged from the woods. It walked towards Audrey growling. "No!" Belle ran to the dragon, "This is my friend." The dragon looked at her oddly and then sniffed Audrey. "Good boy." Belle pet his nose. The dragon licked Audrey. "Ugh!" Audrey was dripping with dragon spit. "Meet Brandon!" Belle turned to Audrey, "He's my friend from when I was little!" "Let me get this straight," Audrey was still holding her dagger, "You have a pet dragon?" "Not a pet, a friend." Belle said with a giggle, "Besides he says he needs to go home to his babies." Audrey looked at Belle for a minute, and when Brandon left she went back to sleep. The next day they made pretty good time they got over the mountain and through 6 villages. When they got to a large town Audrey bought some supplies, while she was looking through some fruit she heard a fanfare. 6 or 7 knights came riding through the town. People were cheering as they passed. They stopped and a man opened a scroll, "I am searching for new recruits to join King Arthur's court." He looked at Audrey, "You girl!" he looked confused, "What in the world is on your arm?" "I don't know." No one, except Belle, had ever noticed the marks. The soldier muttered something to himself and then yelled, "Get her!" Audrey grabbed Belle and ran. She was able to outrun them for about an hour but tripped over a log and got captured. "Do you surrender?" he asked Audrey. "No she says it's a sign of weakness. She said her brother told her that, her brother says a lot of things." Belle giggled. The soldiers looked at each other, and tied both of them to a cart. "Audrey what did you do to make these guys mad?" Belle whispered. "Nothing, I just answered a question." Audrey whispered back.


End file.
